For a Generous Donor and Bush, the Support Is a Two-Way Street
  By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.

       DALLAS, June 29 -- In October 1997, George W.Bush placed a call to his
 friend Tom Ridge, the Republican governor of Pennsylvania, to vouch for the Enron
 Corporation, the giant Houston energy and trading company that, at the time, was
 battling to sell electricity in Pennsylvania.

      Mr. Bush made the call at the request of Kenneth L. Lay, the CEO of Enron.

     "I called George W. to kind of tell him what was going on," Mr. Lay said.
"And I said that it would be very helpful to Enron, which is obviously a large
 company in the state of Texas, if he could just call the governor and tell him
 this is a serious company, this is a professional company, a good company."

     After a nasty regulatory fight, Enron cracked into Pennsylvania's market.
And in the ensuing years, the Texas energy company has seen its influence
widen nationally and internationally. Along the way, Enron and its executives have
been Mr. Bush's most generous contributors, giving more to his various campaigns
-- over $550,000 -- than any other source.

     The relationship between Mr. Bush and Mr. Lay is close, and old: the two men got
to know each other in the 1980's, when Mr. Lay was a big political supporter of Bush's
father, former President George Bush. It is the sort of friendship where the governor
takes the time to write a joshing birthday note to Mr. Lay: "One of the sad things about
old friends is that they seem to be getting older -- just like you! 55 years old.
Wow! That is really old."

      Mr. Bush, 53, listens closely to what Mr. Lay, now 58, and others at Enron
have to say about important policy matters. As governor, Mr. Bush has
been a supporter of the legislative initiatives that have been most important
to Enron, including deregulating electric utilities, easing the tax burden on
capital-intensive companies, and passing laws meant to curb large jury
awards in civil cases. On all of them, Mr. Bush received advice from top
Enron executives, sometimes soliciting it.

       Many of the issues important to Enron, particularly tort reform, were also
important to other Texas businesses. And Governor Bush, a spokesman said, has gone
to bat for other companies, too, never making unusual overtures for Enron or pushing
for legislation specifically tailored to benefit the company.

      In Washington, Enron lobbies on an even wider array of issues, including
federal regulation of the nation's electric-power grid (Enron wants rules making it easier
to trade and transmit electricity); support for the Overseas Private Investment Corporation,
a federal agency that finances and insures many of Enron's overseas projects; free trade
around the globe, which helps Enron's far-flung energy businesses; and limiting the
regulation of derivatives transactions between private parties, a huge and growing part
of Enron's business. Enron lobbies on so many issues in Congress that it takes 26 pages
for it to list them all on federal disclosure forms.